About Us

The National Animal Resource Facility for Biomedical Research (ICMR-NARFBR) is an Indian Biomedical Research Institute under the aegis of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) Department of Health Research Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, Government of India. The Institute is proposed to have State of the art animal facilities to be established at Genome Valley in Hyderabad as per National and International norms. This will be a unique facilitation Institute for Laboratory Animals resources and its research pertaining to testing and Authorization on behalf of Government of India.

The institute will create a world-class infrastructural facility and a single stop solution to make available all SPF quality biological resources including specialized models such as transgenic and knock out rodents required for testing of various R&D products and for conducting basic, applied and regulatory research to bio-tech, bio-pharma and bio-medical institutions in the country. Institute also provide facilities for conducting research to identify alternatives to replace animals for experimentation. It will acquire aquatic species for eco-toxicology studies to give global standard conditions (vivarium) where biomedical treatments are administered.

The Institute has a mission to facilitate and make available the infrastructure facilities for preclinical biomedical research in the area of developmental biology, reproductive biology, neurobiological and behavioral sciences, development of animal models, cardiovascular physiology, stem cell, molecular cell biology, immunology and virology especially AIDS related research accepted globally. The Institute will have collaborations with national and international organizations in the fields of Biomedical research and technology. The important mission and the goal of the institute is to identify the commonly accepted animal strains and to develop them to meet the current academic demand. The institute will be a test facility to authorize drugs, medical devices and new molecular entities to certify on behalf of government of India prior to human clinical trials and for further submissions for approvals and treatment of human diseases.

It will provide the best contemporary practices for the care and welfare of laboratory animals and function as per national CPCSEA and INSA guidelines in accordance with the principles of 3 R`s - Reduction, Refinement and Replacement - so that the minimum possible number of animals are used to achieve the objectives of any study. It will acquire the national and international accreditation especially from AAALAC organization following NRC guidelines.

The facility will create an ethically driven research environment in which animal welfare is given top-priority. All animal welfare practices will be of highest standards equal to any other country. The animals will be provided with adequate social environmental and food enrichment as per the current Indian guidelines. An internal ethical review committee process (IAEC) will be set up as per norms of CPCSEA, Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change to scrutinize the animal research work conducted at the facility. This ethical review will focus on ensuring compliance with 3 R principles.

The institution will continuously strive to adopt alternatives and develop procedures for non-animal testing. It will use animals only when there are no suitable non-animal alternatives. Experimental procedures will also the refined to avoid unnecessary suffering; non-animal alternative methods are substituted wherever available and acceptable for the justified scientific/regulatory purpose of the study.

In addition the institute is proposing to have exclusive laboratories for developing, testing and validating the alternatives for the replacement of animals in various regulatory requirements for testing drugs, vaccines and Biotech products. Also it will have a laboratory for ecotoxicology with Zebrafish and other smaller vertebrate.

National Centre for Laboratory Animal Sciences (NCLAS) is an unique organization of its kind established in India in 1957, for spreading knowledge on the Care, Breeding, Management and Experimentation using laboratory animals in biomedical research in the country. The organization completed 60 years of its existence, this year.

It started as an unit called Laboratory Animal Information Service (LAIS) at the Indian Cancer Research Centre, Bombay (now called Advanced Centre for Treatment Education and Research in Cancer) way back in 1957 with the help of UNESCO and became a unit of Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), New Delhi in 1959. This unit for the first time undertook a survey on the conditions of laboratory animal care, breeding and experimentation in the country and felt the need for educating the biomedical fraternity on the proper care, breeding and maintenance of laboratory animals. This resulted in the initiation of a regular training course in laboratory animal sciences way back in 1967, and the publication of laboratory animal bulletins, which contained information on the laboratory animals breeding, maintenance and they use for experimentation in various research institutions in the country. This unit was later shifted to National Institute of Nutrition (NIN ), Hyderabad in 1976, and was expanded to provide animal support to NIN’s nutritional research and also to provide animals to other institutes within the country and it was renamed then as Laboratory Animal Information Service Centre (LAISC). In 1998, during the 7th Five Year Plan additional support came from Department of Biotechnology (DBT) under the Ministry of Science and Technology, Government of India, which helped the unit to reach the current status as the National Center for Laboratory Animal Sciences - NCLAS.

The NCLAS is currently meeting the breeding and experimental needs of more than 250 biomedical Institutions in the country. The center consists of four units: the experimental animal facility, the feed preparation facility, the breeding facility and the primate facility. The experimental facility as the name suggests is meant for conducting animal experiments and the feed preparation and breeding facilities take care of breeding and supply of animals and supply of feeds. The Primate facility that can maintains rhesus monkeys, has been added to the centre in 2004 for basic research and preclinical testing of drugs and vaccines using non human primates. The center has a staff strength of 64, including scientific, technical and administrative staff. Apart from breeding and supply of animals, the Centre regularly undertakes supply of laboratory animal feed (both for maintenance and for experimentation) and check the health and genetic integrity of laboratory animals under its care. It also runs regular training courses annually both at the junior (6 weeks duration) and senior level (3 months duration) for laboratory animal personnel working in government and private biomedical institutions. Apart from this, need based short duration ad-hoc training courses are also conducted on request from individuals.

Vision

To build state of the art infrastructural facility as a single stop solution and to make available all the resources for basic, applied and regulatory research to bio-tech, bio-pharma and bio-medical institutions in the country.

Mission Statement

To provide quality services in support of biomedical research and training with adherence to the highest international standards for humane and ethical animal care and use.

Main Objectives

To provide comprehensive range of biological and technological related resources for the advancement of justified basic and applied biomedical research in the country and to make the country self sufficient in the availability of SPF quality large and small animals especially Non human primates (NHPs), Canines, Porcines, Equines, Ovines, Caprines, Lagomorphs and rodents of different strains including specialized strains such as transgenic and knockouts.

To create infrastructural facility of international standards with international accreditation for performing pre-clinical testing of new drugs, vaccines, GM foods, stem cells, recombinant and herbal products within the country offering validation authorization on behalf of Government of India and to open up the avenues for making available the cost effective vaccines and drugs for our population.

To develop HRD trained manpower in the specialized areas of lab animal sciences and technology in support of biomedical research and create opportunities in the country

To provide technical help and technical training in the specialized areas of the Laboratory Animal Sciences & Technology.

To serve as a Reference Centre of ICLAS and WHO as a National member for all aspects of Laboratory Animal Sciences for promoting international collaboration pertaining to quality control norms with reference to animal experimentation.

To build international Scientific Resource Organization dedicated for the advancement of human and animal health. Simultaneously to establish a centre of excellence to provide the best contemporary practices for promoting the ethical care and use of all resources in research and welfare of laboratory animals.

To develop innovative methods for alternatives to animal experimentation and validate testing approaches for drug development.

Mission implementation schemes

Research: To pursue and support basic and clinical biomedical research utilizing biological resources with emphasis to research in the areas of developmental biology, reproductive biology, neurobiological and behavioural sciences, development of animal models., cardiovascular physiology, stem cell, molecular cell biology, immunology and virology especially AIDS, Ebola, Zika and Nipha related research etc.

Resources: To create SPF resources of Specific Pathogen Free (SPF) quality subjects for research and affiliate programs complying with all applicable regulations and guidelines with all ethical treatment and rehabilitation by breeding them in barrier and natural habitat environment.

Accessibility: To provide and expand access to the resources by way of collaboration to the universities and institutes of on a National and International level.

Demand: To meet the demands especially the requirements of academic and research institutions, universities, biotech, biopharma and biomedical research organizations for developing medical devices, diagnostics, new therapeutics for human and animal health with its state of the art infrastructural facilities.

Dissemination of Information: To provide comprehensive worldwide bibliographic information on all laboratories technological resources that enable investigators to communicate on information on research findings on animals use availability of tissues, blood and specimens throughout the world.

Authorization: To function as testing and authorization institute on behalf of Government of India for drugs and Medical devices and develop standardize methods for new molecular entities prior to sending to human clinical trials and for further submissions for approvals for treatment of human diseases.